A 71-year-old former social worker has been jailed for indecently assaulting boys and girls including one victim he burnt and hit with a cane.

Duncan Ritchie has been jailed for 11-and-a-half years after being found guilty of an indecent assault on a boy aged 13, four counts of indecent assault on a girl, aged 15, four indecent assaults on a 14-year-old girl and two counts of indecent assault on a girl over 16, including incidents of burning and hitting with a cane.

The 71-year-old carried out the abuse against the six teenagers at Greenacres home in Clay Cross and Lindenhurst home in Chesterfield when Ritchie worked there as a social worker.

Duncan Ritchie

Ritchie, of Highfields Way, Holmewood, was found guilty of the offences which date back to the 1980s after a five week trial at Derby Crown Court.